KINDER TRANSPORT: THE WINTON CHILDREN
Llanwrtyd Wells has been twinned since 1993 with Krumlov in the Czech Republic. In 1939 as the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia 120 Czech refugee children and their teachers arrived in Llanwrtyd at the Abernant Lake Hotel as part of the kinder transport organised by Sir Nicolas Winton. In total 669 children were rescued by Sir Nicolas Winton, two of the children that came to Llanwrtyd were Milena Grenfell-Baines MBE and Dr Ruth Halove, who have returned to Llanwrtyd many times since the war. These former pupils have been presented with the freedom of the town.
At Prague Central Station there is a farewell memorial to the Winton children and the Kinder Transport. The money for this moving memorial was raised by public donations by Milena Grenfell-Baines in the UK. When Milena and her sister left Prague station they held hands and said they would not cry. Most of the parents of the Winton children perished in the Holocaust.
Photographs of the Farewell Memorial at Prague Main Station by Peter Barnett and the Identity pictures and painting courtesy of the Heritage Centre, Llanwrtyd Wells.
